One of my biggest frustrations with the major streamers these days is the degree of difficulty they all seem to have in giving us solid half-hour TV comedies that aren’t absolute garbage. I don’t know whether it’s a skittishness about offending people or if writers’ rooms hire people who just don’t know how to write jokes any more or what, but the fact remains that while we may be in boom times when it comes to quality TV shows — half-hour sitcoms of the Parks and Recreation/Office variety are few and far between.
Fortunately, both Prime Video and Netflix have some lighthearted new shows teed up that, while I’m sure they won’t reach the mid-2000s heights that I still view so nostalgically, they should still make for a pleasant binge all the same. Depending on what you’re in the mood for, one is a romantic comedy while the other puts the immigrant experience through a comedic treatment.
We’ll start with the latter first, which comes from Prime and debuts just a few weeks from now.
The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh (Oct. 17)
Led by a cast that includes Lost‘s Naveen Andrews and based on the personal experiences of Emmy-nominated creator Vijal Patel (black-ish, The Middle), The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh is told via hilarious and conflicting flashbacks from the Pradeep family from an interrogation room after they’ve moved to the US from India.
Explains Prime: “The Pradeeps quickly find themselves embroiled — romantically, personally, and professionally — with a polar-opposite neighborhood family, leading to a predicament with many surprising twists.”
You can get a sense yourself from the trailer below of the playful vibe on offer with a TV show like this. What I like about a sitcom like this is that it doesn’t take itself seriously or try to reinvent the wheel. Give me something that feels good, into which I can more or less escape for 30 minutes, and you have my undivided attention.
What else to watch
The second new comedic TV show I want to spotlight is a Netflix release we highlighted over the weekend: Nobody Wants This.
I won’t rehash our entire preview, which you can read right here, but just to summarize: This is a heartwarming odd-couple comedy from creator Erin Foster that kinda mirrors her own conversion to Judaism when she married her husband. The stars (Kristen Bell and Adam Brody) portray an agnostic podcaster and a progressive rabbi who you and I, the viewers, know will be perfect for each other long before they know it themselves — which is confirmed by the snappy dialogue and overall breezy tone of this delightful half-hour series.
Please, Netflix: More TV shows like this, I beg of you.
